I was confused by Microsoft’s decision to remove the Start button from Windows 8, and make it impossible to boot directly to the classic Windows desktop. But I’m equally confused by the notion that there’s any downside to Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Blue undoing those bold-but-bad decisions, as it now seems likely it may.

So I’m glad to see that at least one smart Windows watcher — ZDnet’s Mary Jo Foley

“Windows Blue, from all leaks and tips I’ve received, is not a do-over. (If it were, it would take Microsoft a lot longer than nine or ten months to deliver it.) And ignoring customer confusion isn’t a virtue; it’s stupidity.

This armchair pundit finds it refreshing to hear Windows honchos admit that Windows 8 isn’t selling as well as they hoped and that they want to make its successor more comfortable, familiar and usable for the Windows installed base.”
Ever since it first became clear that Microsoft planned to eliminate the classic Start button and didn’t intend to let Windows 8 users boot directly into the desktop, I’ve assumed that the odds were pretty good that it would eventually back down. The company says that usability research proves that folks quickly learn Windows 8 and don’t find it confusing. But these two changes in particular added up to a convenient excuse to avoid Windows 8 — and have therefore hurt Microsoft as much as they have Windows users.

Or is there even one person out there who wants to argue that bringing back the Start button and letting people boot into the desktop — as options — is a bad idea?